विश्रम् - Vishram

 We spent an afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry.  Great expositions on the formation of the universe, physics theories, and the European space program.  We were even able to take a simulated journey to Europa, a moon of Jupiter. 

The Eiffel Tower Les Jardins de Luxembourg As we were walking through the gardens, the police closed them as a storm was approaching. (Paris has been a very rainy experience.) We walked through a garden market.  Lots of exotic plants for sale. A small park near our apartment.

 We took the metro to St. Denis Basilica which has the importance of being the first structure to use Gothic architecture.  The original part was built in 1144.  The other importance is that St. Denis has been the burial spot of nearly every king and queen of France from the 10th century to the 19th century.  It was here that the queens of France were crowned.   View from behind the altar. If you look closely, you can see what looks like a ladder hanging in the centre of the picture.  This is a modern work of stained glass.  You can see the reflection of the coloured pieces on the wall beside the ladder. One of the first rose windows. Burial chamber There were dozens of these marble necropolises of kings and queens of France.

We have tried each day to go for a short walk to get some air. There was a necessary trip to Ikea to get a few kitchen gadgets as the kitchen was not well supplied.  

 We were fortunate to get a small (!!) apartment in the Latin Quarter, near the Sorbonne.  We are just outside of the tourist area and there are great shops.     The apartment is on the fifth floor and the building has a small elevator.  The building was built in 1870 and the apartment has many original features.  Especially interesting a the floors.   Being in bed for the most of three days, this has been my view of Paris.  

 We arrived in Paris on Valentine's day after an eleven hour flight direct from Bengaluru to Paris.  The apartment we had booked wasn't ready yet, so we stayed overnight in a hotel near the Gare du Nord. Joe on the balcony of our hotel. Lunch at a cafe near the hotel.  Weather was warm enough to sit outside.

 Today we continued to visit gardens in Bengaluru, known as the "City of Gardens."  A relaxing way to escape the busyness of the streets.  

 Today we took it a little easier, enjoying a wonderful buffet breakfast at our hotel before heading out to Cubbon Park which was created in 1870.  In the park and surrounding it, there were a number of buildings from the colonial days, now being swallowed up by the modern city.  We walked about thirty minutes from our hotel to the park (not a small feat given the traffic and lack of functioning pedestrian crossing lights) and then had a leisurely stroll through the gardens.  Many Bengalureans were doing the same. We also visited an Indian crafts shop on the way to the gardens.   The final photo is from our hotel room.

 ...well sort of.   Joe is posing in the Delhi Airport.  Today we flew Air India two and a half hours south from Delhi to Bengaluru.  Delhi Airport Terminal 3 is huge.  It is the fifth largest terminal in the world and can handle 34 million passengers a year.    It has 78 gates and 97 moving sidewalks and is 80% constructed of glass.  Fortunately we found a helpful security guard and we were through security in five minutes.  Then we arrived at the new Terminal 2 at Bengaluru. Opened in October 2023, it has been praised by CNN and the New York Times as one of the most futuristic buildings of our times.  Inspired by the lush flowers and forests of Bengaluru, a lagoon greets people at the entrance.  There are tropical gardens everywhere and all of the checkin desks have hanging baskets.  (Photos from Conde Nast, November 11, 2022 ). This terminal can handle 25 million passengers a year, about the same as Vancouver Internatio...

 On our last day in Delhi, we made four interesting stops.   Clicking on the pictures will make them larger and clicking the links will give more info about each site. The first was to the National Arts and Crafts Museum .  This museum has some great highlights of the historical development of crafts throughout India.  Of particular interest were the tapestries, musical instruments, and a replica crafts village.  Throughout the museum were craftspeople making (and selling) their local crafts.   From the museum, we went to the Waste to Wonder Park .  This was a park with miniature models of the seven wonders of the world as well as a dinosaur activity area for children.  All of the models were made out of recycled materials.  Interesting to note that while the park was advocating recycling, a new raised multi-lane highway was being built right beside the park.  The final picture is of the Delhi landfill.  As we drove past t...